New Challenges 1993-2000

1. New Challenges 1993-2000 Chapter 27

2. Rank the Presidents • Activity

3. Early Stumbles

4. William Jefferson Clinton • Father died before he was born. • Stepfather an abusive alcoholic. • Graduated Yale Law. • Attorney General of AR • Governor of AR @ age 32 • Lost re-election • Recaptured & reelected until he became president in 1992.

5. Defeats & Victories • Homosexuals in the military: Compromise to “Don’t ask; don’t tell” • Past controversies: • Whitewater Real Estate scandal • Accusations of sexual misconduct (consensual affairs and nonconsensual assault). • Family and Medical Leave Act • The Brady Bill- gun control legislation • “Motor Voter Act” • NAFTA

6. Healthcare Fiasco • Appointed his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton to chair his healthcare reform task force. • Secretive meetings • Proposed universal insurance and low costs for medical care • Who would pay? Taxpayers. • Offered abortions at the expense of taxpayers. • New government healthcare bureaucracy • Very expensive & very intrusive

7. Democrat majority in both houses of congress. • Many Democrats did not support the healthcare proposal.

8. Conservative Backlash • Talk Radio • Passionate and opinionated hosts • Use recorded words of people they criticize • Interactive: accept phone calls from listeners • Use of comedy & satire Rush Limbaugh c. 1993

9. Conservative Backlash • Moral Majority dissolved into the Pat Robertson presidential campaign. • That campaign led to the formation of the Christian Coalition. • Grassroots coalition of Catholics, Charismatics, and evangelicals united against legalized abortion and the “normalization” of homosexuality. • Worked to elect conservative candidates.

10. Conservative Backlash • “Focus on the Family” radio broadcast hosted by Dr. James Dobson • Highlighted issues important to Christians • Encouraged Christians to get involved politically

11. Conservative Backlash • 1994 Congressional Elections • Republicans’ Contract with America – 10 popular bills • Balance federal budget • Limit terms of congressmen • Leader Newt Gingrich of GA • Republicans capture both houses of congress. http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html

12. The Comeback Kid • Remember Bill Clinton’s early defeats and victories? • Lost 1980 Arkansas governor’s race • Won it back in 1982 • Reelected until he ran for president in 1992 • Still captured the Democrat nomination in spite of allegations of sexual misconduct. • In 1994, defeated in Congress & healthcare plan defeated.

13. Battling with Congress • Republicans pushed their Contract with America. • Only two became law. • http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/scorecard.html • Presidential vetoes • Line-item veto ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court.

14. Battling with Congress • President Clinton remained popular with the public. • He demonstrated strength in battling over the federal budget. • 1995-1996 Government “shut-downs” over the budget battle. The people blamed the Republicans.

15. Shift to the Middle • President Clinton shifted some of his positions from the left to the center of the political spectrum. • Back to the “New Democrat” • Defense of Marriage Act – benefits for spouses only • Welfare Reform act of 1996 – welfare recipients must begin working after 2 years on the dole

16. Election of 1996 • Republicans nominate Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. • WWII veteran • Conservative voting record • Boring and dull • “Washington insider”

17. Election of 1996 • Ross Perot ran again as a Reform Party Candidate and siphoned off votes of those opposed to President Clinton. • Clinton 49% • Dole 41% • Perot 8 % • Republicans maintained control of Congress and won a majority of governor seats in the states.

18. Election of 1996 • Clinton wins.

19. Backing up a bit….Ruby Ridge • August 1992, a BATF team begins a shootout with Randy Weaver and his family at their home in Idaho. • They had Weaver under surveillance for some 16 months after an BATF informant had persuaded Weaver to sell him a sawed off shotgun (illegal). • Weaver’s 12 yo son Sammy heard the dogs barking and went to see why. • The BATF agents shot his dog. Sammy shot in the direction of the gunfire. He or family friend Kevin shot and killed one of the BATF agents. Sammy was shot in the back running to the cabin and was killed.

20. Ruby Ridge, Idaho • The next day a BATF sniper shot and killed Weaver’s wife Vikki as she stood in the doorway of the cabin holding her 10 month old daughter (unarmed). • After an 11 day seige, Weaver was persuaded to surrender. • He was put on trial and was acquitted of all charges except two minor ones. • The government had really, really messed up. • Two agents were demoted, but none were ever brought to justice.

21. Branch Davidians – Waco, TX 1993 • February 18, 1993, BATF agents raid a compound of a religious fringe group called the Branch Davidians under the leadership of David Koresh in Waco, Texas. • On April 19, 1993, after a two-month siege, the BATF/FBI started poking holes in the compound with tanks and inserted pyrotechnic tear gas. • A fire broke out and dozens of people in the compound were killed, mostly children. • The government reports show that the Davidians started the fire, not the tear gas, but government experts have admitted that it was possible that it was the tear gas…

22. Branch Davidians - Waco • Why did the government surround the compound? • They had accused the group and its leader Koresh of possession of illegal firearms. • They also accused Koresh of abusing children. • He admitted to having several young “wives” with children. • However, it was ruled that abuse was not on-going during the siege. • A government investigation ruled the disaster was caused by Davidians and that the government was not at fault.

23. Government abuses? • Some people began to fear that the government was abusing its power. • Fear of aggressive federal agents • Fear that evil doers were not being held accountable • Some people began to form militias. • Others wanted to draw attention to the problem. • Some were very far out there.

24. Native Terrorism 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, OK

25. Oklahoma City Bombing • http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/uploads/documents/OKCNM_First%20Days%20Bombing%20Investigation.pdf

26. Oklahoma City Bombing 1995 • A former member of the U.S. Army who was upset about Ruby Ridge and the Waco incident parked a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 (the same day the Waco Davidian compound was assaulted and burned). • 168 people died, including 19 children under the age of 6 who were in a daycare in the basement of the building. • 680 other people were injured. (Warning: next slide is graphic!)

27. Danielle Bell, 15 months BayleeAlmon turned 1 on April 18, 1995

28. Timothy McVeay, from Michigan, was stopped on a traffic violation. • An investigation connected him to a hotel room where people had seen a Ryder rental truck. • The rental truck which was used in the attack had been leased to him under a false name. • He was tried, found guilty, and executed on June 11, 2001. • He had several accomplices: one is in prison for life; one got 12 years; and one had no prison time in exchange for testimony.

30. Ruby Ridge happened while George H. W. Bush (41) was president. • The other two happened on Bill Clinton’s watch. • His administration, especially the Justice Department and his attorney general, Janet Reno, was heavily criticized. • Ruby Ridge and Waco served to undermine the government’s authority and reduce the government’s credibility.

31. Clinton’s Second Term

32. Economics • During Clinton’s first term, the economy soared. • Unparalleled economic growth • Low unemployment • Low inflation • Stock market at record highs • Internet opened new markets and opportunities • Budget surplus! • As a result, the president was very popular.

33. Foreign Affairs • Clinton lacked experience in foreign affairs. • Somalia – famine, civil war, peacekeepers • This ended badly for the U.S.

34. Foreign Affairs • Haiti- forced the Haitian military to reinstate a democratically elected president with threat of armed intervention by the U.S. military. • Serious, long-term problems of poverty & political corruption not dealt with.

35. Foreign Affairs • Balkans – Yugoslavia split into several nations when communism dissolved. • History of religious dissention and ethnic strife. • Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Muslims • Serbs, Croats, and others • Bosnia became the focus of the strife because they had the most mixed population of Croats & Serbs and different religious groups. • Civil war ensued.

37. Balkans • President Clinton ordered airstrikes/air support for the UN, which was trying to keep the peace. • American diplomats under the Clinton administration helped to negotiate a settlement – Dayton Accords • The Dayton Accords allowed the various groups to share power. • American troops were sent to Bosnia under NATO to enforce the agreement. • Violence erupted anyway. • U.S. launched massive airstrikes. • Eventually NATO and Russian forces intervened to restore peace.

38. Ironically, although Clinton had been anti-military, he proved very willing to use to military force. • The question arises: • Should the U.S. intervene in the internal affairs of another country? • If so, how should the U.S. intervene?

39. Impeachment • Lewinsky scandal broke. • Whitewater investigator Kenneth Starr uncovered the scandal in his investigation. • Monica Lewinsky had confided in a White House staffer about her involvement with the president. • When investigators interviewed that staffer, she told what Lewinsky had told her. • Other staffers were trying to cover up the relationship. • “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

40. President Clinton hugging Monica Lewinsky Monica Lewinsky

41. President denied it under oath. (Perjury) • Evidence that staffers were covering up the incident. (Obstruction of Justice) • Clear evidence of the president’s guilt in the Lewinsky scandal. • House of Representatives launches an investigation into the perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

42. December 1998, the House voted to impeach the president. • The president was then tried before the Senate. A two-thirds vote in the Senate was required for conviction. The Senate during the trial of President Clinton

43. Many people felt that what the president had done in his personal life was personal and not relevant to his job as president. • Other Americans believed that he had violated the public trust, but that “lying about sex” was not sufficient grounds for removing him from office.

44. After a lengthy trial, the Senate voted 45-55 that Clinton was not guilty of perjury. • The vote was 50-50 on the obstruction of justice charge, so he was not convicted on that one either. • 67 votes would have been required for removal. • The “Comeback Kid” survives again.

45. Election of 2000

46. Texas Governor George W. Bush Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.

47. Democrats • As Clinton’s VP, he represented the Clinton legacy. • Not involved in scandals, but supported the president during those times. • VP Candidate Joe Lieberman, Senator from Connecticut.

48. Republicans • George W. Bush, son of President Bush (41) presented himself as a “compassionate conservative.” • VP Candidate – former Secretary of Defense and congressman from Wyoming.

49. Democrats: Gore-Lieberman Republicans: Bush-Cheney • Pro-abortion • Tax cuts for selected groups • Gaffs: tendency to exaggerate; suggested that he had invented the internet. • B.A. in government from Harvard, magna cum laude • Dropped out of law school at Vanderbilt University to run for Congress. • Pro-life • Tax cuts for all Americans • Accused of being an “intellectual lightweight” • B.A. in history from Yale, average student • Rejected entry into UT Law School • M.B.A. from Harvard

50. Gore barely wins the popular vote by one-half of one percent. • However, he needed 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Gore: 267 votesBush 246 votes • Florida, with 25 electoral votes, was too close to call. Bush led the Florida vote by 1800 votes out of 6 million cast.